Money pours in for anti-pipeline protest, but will it last?

By REGINA GARCIA CANO

 

CANNON BALL, N.D. (AP) — The crowdsourcing goal was modest: $5,000, enough to help a few dozen people camping in North Dakota to protest the nearby construction of the four-state Dakota Access oil pipeline. The fund has since topped a staggering $1 million.

 

The fund is among several cash streams that have provided at least $3 million to help with legal costs, food and other supplies to those opposing the nearly 1,200-mile pipeline. It may also give protesters the ability to prolong their months-long encampments that have attracted thousands of supporters, as the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe pursues the fight in court.

 

And as the number of protest-related arrests increased this week, so did contributions — the funds raked in more than $200,000 between Thursday and Friday alone.

 

But demonstrators are quick to note that the amount of money raised and what they have left isn't the same.

 

"It still feels unreal sometimes because it is such an astronomical figure to me," said Ho Waste Wakiya Wicasa, the protester who set up the GoFundMe account that has raised more than $1 million mostly for operating expenses at the camp, which took root in April.

 

"The money goes as quickly as it comes, but without it having been as much as it is, we certainly wouldn't have been able to be as productive as we have been in the fight," he said.

 

For months now, opponents of the $3.8 billion pipeline — which is slated to move oil from North Dakota through South Dakota and Iowa to a shipping point in Illinois — have been camping near the confluence of the Missouri and Cannonball rivers. They worry the project will disrupt cultural artifacts and hurt drinking water sources on the Standing Rock Sioux's nearby reservation and farther downstream because the pipeline will cross the Missouri River.

 

The Texas-based company building the pipeline, Energy Transfer Partners, insists the project is safe. The tribe is fighting the pipeline's permitting process in federal court.

 

Since the number of protesters soared in August in North Dakota, donations started rolling in more frequently and more than 400 people have been arrested — including more than 140 on Thursday when officers evicted protesters camping on private land recently acquired by Energy Transfer Partners.

 

But running a camp — and readying it for North Dakota's brutal winter — isn't cheap. The account Wicasa set up has only about $100,000 left as of Friday night, according to LaDonna Brave Bull Allard, a tribal historian and preservation employee. She provided family land for use in the original camp, Sacred Stone, in April and still houses demonstrators.

 

The money has been used for grocery store trips every two days that cost about $2,000 each, 20 yurts purchased for $160,000, and around $7,000 for bail money. It has also paid for a storage area, composting toilets, tiny houses, tepees, a medical area and generators powered by solar panels and wind.

 

A bookkeeper and an accountant now keep track of the crowd-sourced money.

 

"I got people to take care of," Brave Bull Allard said. "I got to provide homes for people and blankets, thermal wear, socks, hats and gloves, and food. Right now, we are feeding 670 people."

 

One online legal defense fund has raised more than $655,000 for "the legal defense of warriors protecting land, water and human rights."

 

Meanwhile, much of the money the tribe is using for the legal fight is from at least $1.3 million in direct donations, tribal chairman Dave Archambault recently told The Associated Press. He declined to say how much tribal officials have spent so far, saying that could give their opponents an advantage in the legal case.

 

Energy Transfer Partners also has declined to provide an estimate of its legal expenses. The tribe is pursuing appeals after losing in lower courts.

 

The Standing Rock Sioux didn't solicit money, Archambault said, but asked other tribes for letters of support or formal resolutions. He said it was only after other tribes, including the Red Lake Nation and the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community in Minnesota, inquired about financial contributions that leaders decided to accept money for legal costs. And as the protests continued, the tribe decided to also use part of the money for waste-management services for protesters, he said.

 

"I know the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe is not alone; we have overwhelming support," Archambault said, adding that his tribe would in return help other tribes "in their fight against corporations."

 

Among the donors to online fundraisers is southern New Hampshire resident Carol DiPirro. She gave $30, motivated in part because of a fight her community waged against a natural gas pipeline.

 

"They are saying the same thing: This is our water supply. You run a pipeline through it and it leaks, you are poisoning us. That's exactly what I spent two years of my life saying," DiPirro said. "This really, really struck a chord with me."

 

-- © Associated Press 2016-10-31

I do not understand, that the Federal Government is not stepping in, as the land, where the pipeline is supposed to be built, is property of the Sioux tribes according to the Treaty of 1868. Besides it is not very smart to run such pipeline underneath a river, which supplies drinking water for millions of people.

5 minutes ago, fxe1200 said:

I do not understand, that the Federal Government is not stepping in, as the land, where the pipeline is supposed to be built, is property of the Sioux tribes according to the Treaty of 1868. Besides it is not very smart to run such pipeline underneath a river, which supplies drinking water for millions of people.

 

Show me the secret handshake and all will be revealed to you, instantly ;-)

 

20 minutes ago, fxe1200 said:

I do not understand, that the Federal Government is not stepping in, as the land, where the pipeline is supposed to be built, is property of the Sioux tribes according to the Treaty of 1868. Besides it is not very smart to run such pipeline underneath a river, which supplies drinking water for millions of people.

 

One of those arrested was Standing Rock Chairman Dave Archambault II who spoke of the situation:

"We demand the pipeline be stopped and kept off our Treaty boundaries…"

http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/08/30/indigenous-property-rights-and-the-dakota-access-pipeline/

 

"The pipeline would run less than half a mile away from the reservation."

https://steemit.com/news/@victor-lucas/a-sustainability-dialogue-the-dakota-access-pipeline-and-subjugation-of-native-americans

 

Looking at the route maps it appears that the line runs outside the boundary, but through an area that is held sacred.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=dakota+pipeline+map&biw=1366&bih=620&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiAu_2Si4TQAhXFo48KHe0qAWIQ_AUIBygC&dpr=1#imgrc=_

19 minutes ago, Enoon said:

 

 

One of those arrested was Standing Rock Chairman Dave Archambault II who spoke of the situation:

"We demand the pipeline be stopped and kept off our Treaty boundaries…"

http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/08/30/indigenous-property-rights-and-the-dakota-access-pipeline/

 

"The pipeline would run less than half a mile away from the reservation."

https://steemit.com/news/@victor-lucas/a-sustainability-dialogue-the-dakota-access-pipeline-and-subjugation-of-native-americans

 

Looking at the route maps it appears that the line runs outside the boundary, but through an area that is held sacred.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=dakota+pipeline+map&biw=1366&bih=620&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiAu_2Si4TQAhXFo48KHe0qAWIQ_AUIBygC&dpr=1#imgrc=_

The Treaty land is larger than the reservation land. What is being carved through is Sovereign Territory of the tribe under the Treaty of 1851. While the people largely exercise their claim only upon the reservation, the current pipeline both traverses burial grounds and rock formations sacred to the people. The problem is that although laws will likely vindicate the Standing Rock claim, the damage to the land now and into the future will be impossible to even partially undo.

While the corporation is claiming ownership of the land, North Dakota State law prohibit farmlands from being purchased by corporations. Rather than voiding the purchase outright, the play seems to be to use security forces to enable laying of the pipe across the disputed land during the 30-day review period by the state Attorney General. It was in the midst of bulldozers approaching the sacred sites that the tribe declared it preceding right to "eminent domain" and invoked the Treaty of 1851.

History varies by the culture writing it. Here are 2 histories.
#1) As published in the current (Nov 2016) issue of SMITHSONIAN
 Ulysses S. Grant Launched an Illegal War Against the Plains Indians, Then Lied About It
 

#2) As published in the September issue of TheRedNation documents the hardships caused by prior broken promises.  Fighting for Our Lives: #NoDAPL in Historical Context

 

As I've followed this story's development (for me since early August) I'm struck by a continuation of the morality themes of old movies of the "West" => The big money desires a slice of land, and has brought in a massive show of guns to get its way. (Add in a Governor financially invested in the project, and a sheriff who is willing to look selectively at which laws to use, which to let slide. Expect a movie someday.)

 

See below a map of the ORIGINAL vs CURRENT Pipeline Routes
Note: The corporation wanting access to use this land never truly accepted that the tribe meant "NO!" each time it said "NO!" ... Contrast that with the time the people of Bismarck said no. It did not take thousands of people to camp out and face arrest, harassment, strip searches, large fines, and broken bones to convince the corporation to seek another route.

As for the USACE (Army Corps of Engineers), the facts are that they ignored concerns expressed by three other agencies (BIA, EPA and DOJ) and circumvented regulatory requirements by issuing permits under a string of small project filings, so as to avoid regulations if processed as the massive 1,172 mile long project that it is.

Additionally, as documented in the recent joint agency and tribal meeting in Phoenix, the USACE has redefined its internal rules in ways that counter the congressional structure of authority assigned to them.

Army Corps Treads Fuzzy Legal Line in Evaluating DAPL Permits

Obama promised big support  - back when he was campaigning to be elected, but he has not utilized the powers he could. Hillary managed to avoid the issue completely - until Tribal Youth said on TV they'd be at her offices on Friday -showing up with a Teepee and drums at the NY HQ office lobby - after which she responded in what might most kindly be described as a political sidestep:

 

While I focused on the history and legalities in my above post, this just was forwarded to me - a brief, first hand account written by Ann Wright - who served 29 years in the US Army/Army Reserve and retired as a Colonel. She also was a U.S. diplomat for 16 years.  She resigned in March 2003 in opposition to the Iraq war.

Police Clash With Pipeline Protesters:
"It’s like we are back to the 1800s when the U.S. Army rampaged against Native American tribes across the American West. The militarized police and the use of the National Guard this week in responding to the Standing Rock Sioux Native American challenge in North Dakota to big oil and its dangerous pipelines reminds one of Custer’s Last Stand against Sitting Bull."
read more at ...
http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/39979-focus-police-clash-with-pipeline-protesters

3 hours ago, fxe1200 said:

I do not understand, that the Federal Government is not stepping in, as the land, where the pipeline is supposed to be built, is property of the Sioux tribes according to the Treaty of 1868. Besides it is not very smart to run such pipeline underneath a river, which supplies drinking water for millions of people.

When has mankind ever been known to do something smart besides reprocreate his flawed seed. Marriages take place daily. We are crowding out all opposition to our steady advance. Forests streams oceans wildlife all suffer at our hands. Maybe the world is flat and we will eventually reach the edge and fall off. 

Oil talks everyone else walks, get used to it as it won't change.

Grubster, maybe this time also, but don't bet the farm just yet.

 

Wounded Knee II Vet-1973

This might get attention of the bankers who are invested, along with assorted other corporate interests. 
https://intercontinentalcry.org/amid-escalating-repression-dakota-access-pipeline-owners-risk-legal-liability/

Quote

The letter cautions Energy Transfer, Phillips66 and lender Wells Fargo that, as a matter of international law, companies have an affirmative responsibility to protect human rights. It warns that the active involvement of state or local law enforcement does not absolve companies of these duties. To the extent that human rights abuses occur, business enterprises have an affirmative duty to avoid complicity in those abuses. The joint owners Dakota Access Pipeline may be responsible for injuries or losses suffered by the protestors, including those caused by private security forces or police working in concert with them or at their behest.

Who may be in line for these liabilities? This provides an extensive list of officials supplying the militarized forces.
http://www.yesmagazine.org/people-power/dial-a-cop-20161031
 

How much in damages? That's going to be in the millions. (Small change compared to the $3.7 Billion pipeline, but the goal is to stop that pipeline - hence the resources.) Protests are beginning to go after the bankers to call in their loans. This is not over.

 

 

( Activists in SF lock down in @Citi headquarters in SF to protest funding of Dakota Access pipeline. Citi is the lead arranger of the largest loan to the Dakota Access Pipeline Project. )

 

I just spotted this. Though I had seen individual posts of support from people around the planet, this is an entire FB Group from New Zealand "HAKA with Standing Rock" supporting the #NoDAPL Water Protectors. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1102073623245751/
 

Easier than scrolling through that page, here is a video news segment from New Zealand.
http://www.newshub.co.nz/nznews/maori-respond-to-native-american-whanaus-plea-over-dakota-pipeline-2016103119#.WBcVuauHKLk.facebook

 

I have often wondered if people are capable of thinking out of the box. In the first place, pipelines are certainly safer and a cheaper way of transferring oil than rail cars. Why do we want to make Warren Buffet even richer.

 

Consider the US Interstate highway system. The median strip between lanes is normally quite wide. What would be wrong with building a pipeline between the lanes. With all the vehicle traffic, even a small leak would be quickly reported. The pipeline company would save big money by eliminating inspections and the government would make money leasing the right of way.

Gary A, I'm hoping there was a little "tongue in cheek" there. Great idea, blow up a section of highway and the people using it. Having attended many pipeline safety seminars I can assure you that you do not want to be anywhere near a leak, especially in an engine running vehicle. Sometimes they just go boom! I've worked around and helped build pipelines. I was impressed by the welding skills back in the 60/70's not so sure now. I worked on a permit as a welder helper with Pipeline Local 798, the pipeline local. Those guys were good, damn good. Their welds were stronger than the pipe. I like to think they are still that good but I don't know if other so-called unions or scabs are doing the welding now. Pipelines that are old are not being replaced as they should and well metal rusts and literally wears away with age. Regardless of how one feels about climate change, I believe it is very, very real, that land belonged to the Lakota and other Nations. The US broke the treaty's of 1851 and 1868 just as they break every treaty when they wish.

A troll post has been removed. 

American Energy News published an article Saturday. Considering the low pricing and the reality that we already have more of the higher grade EROEI carbon reserves than we can use if we hope to stay under 2ºC, the Oil/ Gas/and Coal industry may finally be seeing the handwriting on the wall

This is an interesting article - I've only extracted one snippet.

Dakota Access protests poised to become political debacle for American oil and gas industry

Quote

The national “soul searching” around the energy narrative will not be aided by violent confrontation between Native Americans (supported by well-funded and organized environmental groups) and heavily militarized police forces enforcing the rule of law on behalf of a pipeline company.

That is a losing scenario for the American oil and gas industry already plagued by declining political legitimacy.

 

I've got many, many more but I think this pretty well sums it up. Remember, it was the feds all the way to the top that broke up OWS. Obama won't help, he is part of the problem.

 

http://www.opednews.com/articles/President-Obama-They-Shoo-by-Georgianne-Nienabe-Bank-Of-North-Dakota_Dakota-Access-Pipeline_North-Dakota-161031-699.html